California Senator Kamala Harris encourages young professionals in Madison to get politically involved

California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, the second African-American woman in American history to serve in the U.S. Senate and the first African-American and first woman to serve as California’s Attorney General, joined Sen. Tammy Baldwin for a meet-and-greet with local young professionals at Bos Meadery on Madison’s east side on June 9th.

Sen. Harris was in Madison to encourage young people to rally and support her friend, Sen. Baldwin, who will potentially face a tough bid to keep her U.S. Senate seat this fall. Judge Everett Mitchell gave the welcome at the event and introduced Baldwin and Harris to the crowd.

“Hi, Madison,” Harris told the crowd of about 100 people, mostly young professionals in Madison. “So … little-known fact: I lived in Madison. My parents taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a brief moment in time and I was five years old and lived in Madison, Wisconsin. I was a native!

“So this is kinda personal for me,” she adds. “I’m here today to make sure that Tammy Baldwin is re-elected because it impacts the 40 million Californians I represent. What you all know is that she is without a doubt one of the strongest leaders that Wisconsin has ever seen … but she is also one of the strongest leaders our country has ever seen and we need her.”

Harris has spent this particular Saturday traveling throughout Wisconsin with Baldwin who will face either Republican state Senator Leah Vukmir or businessman Kevin Nicholson in November. Special interests and conservative political action groups already have spent nearly $10 million on ads attacking Baldwin so far and Wisconsin is seen as a battleground state.